JRKO - I'm a bit lost. Are you still doing 15+horn, or a 8-10" cone mid and tweeter?

Well from the recent posts It appears I have rather underestimated the quality/expense of drivers needed to travel down this yellow brick road.

I wanted a 3-way design to get the most from each driver. Due to my noobishness I hadn't really caught on to the fact that serious bass drivers were going to be so expensive. I failed to understand that to achieve the accurate and powerful sound I described would mean the £800/$1300 budget meant I might have to pick suboptimal parts.

Would my money be better spent on a 2-way? bass that reaches 500-1000hz and a 2" CD w/horn?

__________________If I'm not making noise, I'm making something to make noise

As always in audio - "It depends". You just have to budget for it. I don't think you'll get a top notch 3-way horn system for you budget, but you might come close.

The other way is 15/8/tweeter. Say a PD or Faital woofer, the Emmy Beta 8 and a Hi-Vi planar tweeter. I suggest the Beta + Hivi combo because I know it works so well. I've heard it in Gary Pimm's system. IIRC, it was just an small inductor on the 8" and a cap on the planar. They mate seamlessly at about 5 KHz.

I've heard a number of systems like this over the years - and with the right drivers and crossover they are very good indeed. Everything from Focal/Lowther/Fostex to Eminence 18/Eminence 12/ dome tweeter. Done right, it's great and tracks well from low levels to high.

The flip side to that is 15" woofer and a big horn. There you have to decide between 1" or 1.4" drivers. The 1.4" drivers will play clean down to about 700Hz, but not all will play clean up to 15-16 KHz. That's driver and horn dependent. With a good 1" driver you could cross circa 1200 hz. It's been done successfully many times. As Tinitus says , forget the 2" drivers.

If you want to go the horn route, you could build your own - cheap but very time consuming - or buy them. There are some really nice horns being built in Poland right now, they might not be too expensive to get to the UK. You could always drive down to pick them up.

Seems to me that if you stick with the Faital Pro line you could do a 2-way horn system in budget, or go with a cone midrange and good tweeter and stay well within. It's up to you and your desires.

spend the money on the needed electronics, and it might still be possible with the cheaper drivers like Fane's Sovereign

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pano

I don't think you'll get a top notch 3-way horn system for you budget, but you might come close.

The other way is 15/8/tweeter........I've heard a number of systems like this over the years - and with the right drivers and crossover they are very good indeed. Everything from Focal/Lowther/Fostex to Eminence 18/Eminence 12/ dome tweeter. Done right, it's great and tracks well from low levels to high

I have every confidence in your advice Pano. I'm losing confidence in in the lower spec drivers. I guess, as tinitus says the electronics can pull it together, but it seems a shadow of the system I had in mind

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pano

The flip side to that is 15" woofer and a big horn. There you have to decide between 1" or 1.4" drivers. The 1.4" drivers will play clean down to about 700Hz, but not all will play clean up to 15-16 KHz. That's driver and horn dependent. With a good 1" driver you could cross circa 1200 hz. It's been done successfully many times. As Tinitus says , forget the 2" drivers.

If you want to go the horn route, you could build your own - cheap but very time consuming - or buy them. There are some really nice horns being built in Poland right now, they might not be too expensive to get to the UK. You could always drive down to pick them up.

Seems to me that if you stick with the Faital Pro line you could do a 2-way horn system in budget, or go with a cone midrange and good tweeter and stay well within. It's up to you and your desires.